Mount Sinai Care, LLC, today announced it has been selected to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (Shared Savings Program) Accountable Care Organization (ACO), a multifaceted new program sponsored by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Through the Shared Savings Program, Mount Sinai Care will work with CMS to provide Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with high quality service and care, while reducing the growth in Medicare expenditures through enhanced care coordination. Approximately 26,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the New York metropolitan area will participate in Mount Sinai's ACO, which builds on a number of longstanding programs that have improved patient care and outcomes.

"In structuring our ACO, we examined every aspect of the care continuum and thought creatively about how we could deliver care in a more integrated fashion," said Mark Callahan, MD, CEO of Mount Sinai Care and Chief Medical Officer and Associate Dean for Excellence in Clinical Care at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "Based on our extensive experience with highly targeted programs and pilots, we are sure that Mount Sinai Care will successfully reduce fragmentation and improve population health."

Mount Sinai is located between one of the most affluent and one of the most underserved communities in the United States. "The fault line between Manhattan's Upper East Side and East Harlem runs right through our main campus," said Kenneth L. Davis, MD, CEO and President of The Mount Sinai Medical Center. "It is our challenge—and our mission—to do something about the health care disparities that are all around us, and provide the best care possible for every patient who walks through our doors."

Within Mount Sinai's ACO, specially trained care coaches will work directly with patients to streamline and integrate their care across the clinical spectrum—from chronic disease management to specialty care and complex procedures, explained Dr. Callahan. "Coaches will expand existing telephone outreach and follow-up efforts, assist patients with electronic medical record portals, and make house calls to help individuals and families overcome barriers to health care access and adherence to treatment plans," he said, adding that they can also be involved with clinical visits as needed.

Mount Sinai already has a robust care coordination platform that spans a number of outpatient practices, inpatient hospital services, and post-acute care transition programs. Since 1995, the institution's Visiting Doctors Program—one of the largest in the nation—has brought high-quality medical care to the homes of people with complex and serious illness, and the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership has provided free weekend medical care to the community at Mount Sinai Hospital. In response to the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes in New York City, Mount Sinai developed the Diabetes and Cardiovascular Alliance to provide 1,200 patients with community-based care from endocrinologists, cardiologists, and certified diabetes educators.

More recently, Mount Sinai launched an innovative post-acute care program called Preventable Admissions Care Team that has resulted in a 55 percent reduction in emergency department visits, and a 45 percent reduction in hospital admissions, for a targeted group of high-risk patients. Early in 2012, Mount Sinai also established the first geriatrics emergency department, designed to meet the special needs of the region's growing elderly population in New York City. The EPIC electronic medical record system, already rolled out across inpatient and outpatient settings, is also a critical component for improved communication among members of a patient's care team, and between providers and patients.

"The ACO is an opportunity to integrate our innovative programs, pool resources for improved patient care, and develop new methods for streamlining payments and administrative processes," Dr. Callahan said. "Mount Sinai is renowned for its tradition of breakthrough medical research and groundbreaking therapeutic advancements. With the ACO, we will become exemplars for innovative health care delivery," he explained.

About The Mount Sinai Medical Center

The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Medical School is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News and World Report.

The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 16th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Of the top 20 hospitals in the United States, Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and U.S. News and World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News and World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.

The Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health system committed to providing distinguished care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education. Structured around seven hospital campuses and a single medical school, the Health System has an extensive ambulatory network and a range of inpatient and outpatient services—from community-based facilities to tertiary and quaternary care.

The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 12 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per investigator. The Mount Sinai Hospital is in the "Honor Roll" of best hospitals in America, ranked No. 15 nationally in the 2016-2017 "Best Hospitals" issue of U.S. News & World Report. The Mount Sinai Hospital is also ranked as one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Geriatrics, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Nephrology, Neurology/Neurosurgery, and Ear, Nose & Throat, and is in the top 50 in four other specialties. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 10 nationally for Ophthalmology, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's, and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital is ranked in seven out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report in "Best Children's Hospitals."